Kim Taejin shifted his body to the side, startled by Roy’s warning-laced voice and the chilling sensation crawling down the back of his neck.
Without hesitation, Kim Taejin had slashed the neck of the Mud Monster clean off with his blade.
Unlike Roy and the other hunters who tried their best to capture the creature alive, Taejin’s action was unflinchingly decisive. Yet, the monster kept moving despite its severed neck.
“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”
Swish—
A thin sheet of mud passed perilously close enough to slip through a narrow gap as it clung to the unguarded face of a nearby bodyguard.
“Ahhh…!”
The mud writhed like a living organism, rapidly invading every opening on the bodyguard’s face—eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears—without mercy.
“Ris!”
If that mud managed to crush the brain, it would mean instant death. Even if the virus infiltrated unchecked, death was highly probable.
No matter how potent the Recovery Potion was, it couldn’t restore the breath of someone already dead.
Whoosh—
Just as Roy urgently called out to Ris, a refreshing breeze enveloped the bodyguard’s face.
“P-please save me…!”
A fierce struggle began between the invading mud and Ris’s desperate defense.
The bodyguard’s face turned pale and his limbs trembled as the mud slithered beneath his eyes like wriggling worms.
Thrown into the terror of imminent death without time to prepare, he couldn’t even move a single fingertip at will.
“Piiiii—! (Such a vile creature!)”
Ris fluttered his small wings rapidly, channeling a surge of Roy’s magic.
Thanks to that, the mud that had partially burrowed into the bodyguard’s nose and ears was forcibly pulled out.
The sight was like a child stubbornly clinging to a toy store display, only to be dragged away.
At last, the starfish-like cracked mud coalesced into a single mass.
Inside the whirlwind created by Ris, the mud was torn apart into pieces.
The transparent wind, tinted by the mud’s color, resembled a sandstorm blowing through a desert.
“Huff, huff, gasp…”
The bodyguard, miraculously still alive, collapsed to the floor.
Each heavy breath made the shoulder blades beneath his black clothes protrude sharply, as if they might pierce through the fabric at any moment.
“…I feel like I’ve seen this scene somewhere before.”
Not only Roy but the other Kkoribyul members had rushed out of the waiting room to help control the situation.
Song Doyoon raised a trembling hand towards the mud monster, which was now staggering to its feet.
Despite having its neck severed, the monster looked intact. A mere handful of mud had nearly killed a hunter.
“It’s basically a zombie.”
“But zombies die if their heads are cut off, right?”
“Uh…? That’s true.”
Upon hearing Lee Hajun’s comment, Song Doyoon’s eyes widened in surprise.
“See? Our youngest is pretty smart!”
Whether that deserved praise was questionable, but Hajun accepted Doyoon’s petting as if it were routine.
“The fans must be pretty shocked.”
“Yeah. Some people even got hurt, so it’s worrying.”
Both had escorted the fans to safety and were now returning to the battlefield.
Hajun frowned as he pulled a bow from his inventory.
The bow, roughly the size of his torso, unfurled impressively before him.
“…It’s because of that monster.”
He had been waiting for this day for so long.
Though he was only in the prime of youth, Hajun had spent half his life dreaming of becoming a Hunter Idol.
Since his childhood memories were vague, it was fair to say this dream had governed his entire life.
And now, this momentous first day was ruined like this.
Twang—
Three arrows shot from the bow, aiming at the mud monster’s chest, stomach, and thigh.
The mud monster’s body was so consumed by mud that it no longer resembled its original form.
No clothing was visible, and around the neck cut, there was no bone or flesh—only mud.
That was why Hajun could attack without hesitation.
“Today’s supposed to be a precious day. Now fans are getting hurt.”
He couldn’t forget the voices calling his name at the top of their lungs when he bowed deeply after the stage ended.
This day’s memory would surely occupy a large part of Hajun’s mind for the rest of his life.
“Whoa. Hajun, is that thing actually chewing your arrows?”
Hajun’s lips parted as his hostility toward the mud monster flared.
He had no time to respond to Doyoon’s words as shock rattled his eyes.
Crunch, crunch—
The mud monster was literally chewing on the arrow with newly grown teeth in its chest.
“No, this can’t be…!”
Hajun’s arrows were specially made for repeated use, not one-time shots.
They contained tremendous magical power befitting a legendary weapon.
He hurried to use magic to retrieve the arrows from the mud monster but was too late.
“Wow. It really did grow bigger, huh?”
***
After munching the arrow like a delicious snack, the mud monster’s body swelled further.
Doyoon’s mind was a mess as he tried to figure out what kind of attack to use next.
He slipped his right hand inside his cloak, fondling over hundreds of glass vials but couldn’t think of a suitable one.
Physical attacks seemed ineffective, and with no eyes, nose, or mouth, the creature’s head was just rolling on the floor.
That also meant mental attacks were unlikely to work.
“Maybe I should try something that melts it.”
He wasn’t sure if it would be effective, but it seemed more promising than hallucination-inducing substances.
Doyoon’s eyes gleamed as he watched for an opening.
The battle was happening indoors, making it hard to use natural wind.
A misstep could harm allies.
“Aqua, freeze it.”
“Purrung!” (Got it! How dare it chew Hajun’s arrows!)
***
While Hajun might not notice, Aqua used a friendly nickname for him.
Her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel storing sunflower seeds, making her seem irresistibly cute and deserving of comfort, especially as the youngest member.
“Pfuuuu—.”
A chilling stream of water poured down over the mud monster from her small frame.
The mud monster, bent over the soccer ball-sized head rolling on the floor, suddenly stiffened.
“I’ve never dealt with or even heard of a monster like this.”
Kim Taejin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. High Cycle was scheduled to close the program’s final stage.
There would be no related activities for a while after today’s performance.
The carefully prepared special stage was suddenly ruined by the unexpected monster.
He cut off the mud monster’s neck without hesitation because he was sure it couldn’t return to its human form.
“Hyung, what should we do?”
“For now, let’s observe. The juniors need a chance to grow too.”
Kim Taejin sheathed his blade, keeping his right hand lightly on the hilt, ready to draw at any moment.
“Alright then.”
Yoo Jaeri immediately straightened her stance, ready to charge at the mud monster after Taejin’s words.
“I’ve never seen a spirit contractor fight before. It’s amazing how they can use their powers like that.”
Instead, he watched Roy push the mud monster back with shining eyes, like watching an exciting movie.
If it had been a dangerous situation, he wouldn’t have had the luxury to enjoy the scene, but Roy’s power was so overwhelming that even with full effort, it was hard to predict the outcome.
“Now that we’ve been debuted for a few years, I guess this is the kind of feeling we get. Before, we only focused on the seniors. So this is what it’s like when the juniors charge up fiercely.”
His platinum hair shimmered as he nodded while crossing his arms.
Before Kkoribyul’s debut, during the survival program, he had participated in a teddy bear mission.
Back then, Roy was just a future junior, not someone who inspired competitive spirit.
“Time really flies.”
“Hey, you sound like you’re sixty. Can’t you stop talking like an old man?”
“Whatever. Why you gotta pick a fight?”
Han Honghyun approached, lightly tapping Yoo Jaeri’s shoulder teasingly, causing her brows to furrow sharply.
Despite her fierce expression, her cute appearance made her look more like a sulking squirrel than anything truly scary.
Her sturdy muscular figure was quite a contrast to her face.
Kwah-ang—
“Uh? Isn’t that kind of dangerous?”
***
While Han Honghyun and Yoo Jaeri were bickering, Roy and the other Kkoribyul members were pushing the mud monster back.
Suddenly, a human-shaped hole was blown through the building’s wall.
“Kim Chan!”
The mud monster had grabbed Kim Chan and dashed toward the wall in an instant.
Roy clenched his teeth and sprinted toward the direction where Kim Chan had disappeared.
Mud clumps on the floor moved toward the monster’s location like Roy.
“Uum—.” (Contractor, get on my back.)
Solum returned to his original size. Roy accepted and climbed onto Solum’s back.
Then Ris settled on top of Solum’s crown.
As his front and back paws crossed, transparent wings sprouted from Solum’s sides.
“Let’s go together!”
Song Doyoon and Hajun followed closely behind Roy.
The other members guarded the area where the fans were, anticipating potential danger.
Suddenly, one of the fans transformed into a mud monster.
That meant this could happen again, which was why the fans were desperately trying to keep their distance from each other.
The fans hadn’t fallen into complete panic entirely thanks to the presence of the Hunter Idols standing by their side.
‘…There’s no weak point.’
Roy clenched his fist tightly. Blue veins bulged ominously beneath his skin from the strength he applied.
‘Aqua’s attack seemed effective, but…’
Since it was mud, if Ber attacked, it might harden like ceramic.
That was why Roy quickly decided to freeze the mud monster with Aqua’s power and then shatter it to pieces.
‘The head isn’t a weak point, and the entire body lacks any obvious vulnerable spots.’
He had already confirmed from Kim Taejin’s attack that severing the head did no good.
Not wanting to repeat that mistake, Roy chose to pulverize the whole body instead.
“I’ll go and confront it directly!”
Among Kkoribyul’s members, Roy, Kim Chan, Hajun, and Song Doyoon had taken on the direct fight against the mud monster.
The rest focused on defense because the fans were precious lives they had to protect at all costs.